Transcripts/The Argument
:Starfish King: off-screen Absurd! :Shark King: off-screen Preposterous! :Polvina: What’s going on? :Ester: Shh! :Starfish King: off-screen Foolish! :Ester: That’s my father. :Shark King: off-screen Brainless! :Tubarina: And that’s my father. :Starfish King: Throughout Salacia, I am known as a reasonable man, Your Highness, but this is too much! :Shark King: You’re being anything but reasonable, sir. Your idea is ridiculous! :Starfish King: What is ridiculous is for me to listen to your idea any longer. Goodbye, sir. :Shark King: We finally agree on something. Goodbye to you, too! :opens :Starfish King: Ester, come along immediately. :Ester: Uh, where to, Father? :Starfish King: Home. Away from here. :Shark King: Tubarina, I must speak with you. :Tubarina: Yes, Father. :Shark King: Will you excuse us, Polvina? :Polvina: Yes, Your Highness. I should be getting home anyway. :Shark King: Good. We’ll see you soon, then. door :Polvina: herself Whatever’s going on here, I don’t like it! :Polvina: So what did the kings say to you? What were they arguing about? :Ester: All I know is that I’m not allowed to see Tubarina anymore. :Polvina: You’re what? :Tubarina: And I’m not supposed to spend any time with Ester. :Polvina: We can’t do that! What’s their argument got to do with us? :Ester: They are our fathers, Polvina. :Tubarina: We have to obey them. :Polvina: Then let’s do something to help. :Ester: Like? :Polvina: Like solve the argument between them. :Ester: That’s easy. The Shark King should say sorry to my father. :Tubarina: Uh, don’t you mean that your father should apologise to mine? :Ester: Why should my father apologise? He’s not the one with the stupid idea. :Tubarina: scoffs Are you saying my father’s ideas are stupid? :Ester: Isn’t it obvious? :Tubarina: Your father started it with his stupid idea. :Ester: He did not! :Polvina: Ester, Tubarina… :Ester: If you think that my father started it, then that’s the most stupid idea I’ve ever heard! :Tubarina: Except for the stupid idea of listening to your stupid ideas! :Ester: Then don’t! :Tubarina: I won’t! :Ester: Same here! :Polvina: What just happened? :bell rings :Miss Marla: Take your seats, everyone. We’ve got a busy day ahead of us. :Ester: Polvina, over here! :Tubarina: No, Polvina, come here, with me! :Polvina: Why are you sitting over there? Come back here! :Ester: Near her? No way! :Polvina: Tubarina? :Tubarina: Near her? You must be joking! :Miss Marla: Polvina, when you’re ready. :Polvina: Yes, Miss Marla. :Polvina: This is serious, Ester. You and Tubarina didn’t talk all day. :Ester: And I won’t be talking to her until she apologises to me. :Polvina: But- :Ester: And the Shark King has to apologise to my father for his stupid idea. :Polvina: But it’s not our argument. Let’s leave it for the kings to sort it out. :Ester: The Starfish King is my father and I’ve got to support him. :Polvina: I know that, but Tubarina is your friend. Our friend. :Ester: I see. Now I understand. :Polvina: Understand what? :Ester: You’re taking Tubarina’s side! :Polvina: No! I’m not taking any sides, I just want what’s best. :Ester: For me and my father? :Polvina: For you, me and Tubarina. :Ester: You and me maybe, but not Tubarina. Never Tubarina! :Polvina: sighs :Polvina: This has to stop, Tubarina, and we can do it if we work together. :Tubarina: Me work with Ester? :Polvina: She is your friend. :Tubarina: Was my friend. :Polvina: gasp You can’t mean that. :Tubarina: I most certainly do. :Polvina: But, even if you think she’s not a friend anymore, you don’t want her as an enemy, do you? :Tubarina: No, I don’t want her as an enemy. :Polvina: Good. At least that’s a start. :Tubarina: I don’t want her as anything. She’s out of my life now. :Polvina: But that’s terrible! Ester doesn’t deserve that. :Tubarina: Oh, so that’s it. :Polvina: What’s it? :Tubarina: You’re on Ester’s side! :Polvina: distraught I’m on nobody’s side! I just want us to be friends again. :Tubarina: Oh, we are friends. The two of us will always be friends. But not Ester. :Polvina: sighs :Polvina: I can understand them wanting to support their fathers, Tentie. :Tentie: gurgling :Polvina: But why do they have to take it out on each other? :Tentie: gurgling :Polvina: Oh, if only there was something we could do… :bell rings :Ester: Polvina, come and sit by me! :Tubarina: She doesn’t want to sit there. Here’s your seat, Polvina, beside me. :Polvina: Both of you have seats right here. What’s wrong with them? :Ester: Mm, no thanks. :Tubarina: I’m fine where I am. :Polvina: sighs :chattering :Marcello: Hey, Polvina. Come and play with me and Tubarina. :Polvina: Sure, Marcello. :Marli: Don’t play with them, Polvina. Play with me and Ester. :Tubarina: She’s my friend, Marli, so she’s playing with me. :Ester: She’ll have lots more fun playing with us. :Tubarina: Let go! She’s mine! :Ester: No she isn’t! She’s my friend! You let go! :Polvina: Both of you, let go! distraught Why can’t we all play together? :Others: Not with them! :Polvina: I’m not playing with anybody until we all play together. :Marli: So you won’t come and play with us? :Marcello: If you’re not playing with us, you’re playing against us! :Polvina: That’s crazy! :Marli: Suit yourself. :Tubarina: Play with whoever you like, Polvina. :Ester: If you won’t be my friend, then I won’t be yours either! :Tubarina: Same here! :Polvina: Never again, Tentie. I’m never going to have another day at school like today. Tentie, could you deliver two notes for me? :Tentie: gurgling :Polvina: And while you do that, I’ll start packing. :Tentie: confusedly :snip :Ester: No more Tubarina around here! :on door :Ester: Come in. pause Hi, Tentie. :Tentie: gurgling :Ester: Thanks, Tentie. Bye! letter, reads it and gasps No! She can’t! :box plays :Tubarina: Gummy! I told you not to play with that anymore! stops Ester gave that to me for my birthday. box in bin And we don’t want anything around here that reminds us of her. :on window :Tubarina: Oh, Tentie. What do you want? That’s for me? :Tentie: gurgling :Tubarina: letter and reads it No, Polvina, you can’t do this! :Ester: Oh no! She’s already gone! :Tubarina: So you got a note too? :Ester: Uh-huh. :Tubarina: She can’t go live with her grandmother. :Ester: Especially not because of us. :Tubarina: It’s mostly your fault, you know. :Ester: My fault? You’re just as much to blame as me! :Tubarina: That’s not true! :Ester: It is so! :Tubarina: Look, this is not going to bring Polvina back. :Ester: So let’s do something about it. :Tubarina: Well, how long ago did she leave? :Ester: Not long. We have to find her. Come on. :music :Polvina: Oh, maybe we should have taken a carriage, Tentie. :Tentie: gurgling :Polvina: This stuff’s heavy! hits rock, clothes fall out Oh! Oh, maybe this whole idea wasn’t so great in the first place. :Tentie: gurgling :Ester: We think it’s a terrible idea. :Tubarina: We don’t want you to go, Polvina. :Ester: Never ever. :Polvina: I’m sorry, but I have to. :Ester: But why? :Polvina: I’m sick of being in the middle of your argument, that’s why. :Ester: That’s easy! We won’t argue in front of you anymore! :Tubarina: Yeah, we’ll only argue when you’re not around! :Polvina: I don’t want you to argue at all! :Ester: We have to. :Tubarina: We have to support our fathers. :Polvina: But it’s not your argument. You don’t even know what it’s about. :Ester and Tubarina: Yes we do! :Polvina: Okay, what is it then? :Ester: It’s about… uh, the thing! :Polvina: What thing? :Tubarina: You know, that… thing. :Ester: What exactly is… that thing? :Polvina: You delivered both messages, Tentie? :Tentie: gurgling :Polvina: Good. Then they should be here any moment. :Starfish King: I got your message, Polvina. Is Ester alright? :Shark King: Ah, Polvina. What’s this about Tubarina being in trouble? What’s the trouble? :Ester: The trouble is you, Your Highnesseses. :Tubarina: And your argument. :Polvina: It nearly broke up our friendship. :Starfish King: It did? :Shark King: We uh, most certainly wouldn’t want that. :Ester: Which is why we want to know what it’s all about. :Starfish King: It’s about the Shark King refusing to admit that his idea is silly. :Shark King: My idea is not silly! :Tubarina: But what is the idea? :Starfish King: It’s about the new children’s playground. :Ester: A playground? :Tubarina: You’re arguing about a playground? :Shark King: The best place for the playground is near the Jellyfish Castle. :Starfish King: The Jellyfish King and Queen agree. Everyone agrees. :Shark King: Everyone but the Starfish King. :Starfish King: But, sir, I agree. It is you who disagrees. :Shark King: Not at all, Your Highness. I agree with it completely. :Starfish King: But so do I! :Shark King: And er… I too. :Polvina: So this has all… been a misunderstanding? :Ester: You thought you disagreed about the playground… :Tubarina: …when you agreed about it the whole time! :Shark King and Starfish King: laughing :Shark King: It uh, does seem to be that way. :Starfish King: How embarrassing! :Shark King: Perhaps we should let the Jellyfish King know. :Starfish King: I think that might be a good idea. :Ester: Amazing! :Girls: cheering :Tubarina: Look out! :Girls: laughing :Ester: It’s so great to be doing things together again! :Tubarina: You said it! :Polvina: Let’s make an agreement. From now on, the arguments of our parents have nothing to do with us. :Ester and Tubarina: Right! :Ester: We have our own arguments. :Tubarina: And as long as I always win them, everything will be fine. :Polvina: Are we going to let her get away with that? :Ester: No way! Come on, let’s get her! :Girls: laughing